I am currently working as Anna Chaplaincy Lead for Cumbria. This role entails developing a network of Anna Chaplains, Anna Friends and other volunteers to provide spiritual care in later life.

This draws on my Churchill Fellowship which was concerned with palliative care provision in care homes and aimed to understand ways to promote best practice in this context. My visits to Canada, Australia and New Zealand helped my academic career, developing and researching how we can better provide good palliative care in care homes, but also more broadly for people with dementia and older people, wherever they live. I was involved in national and international studies.

Spiritual care at the end of life is an important aspect of care that is often neglected, and this new role allows me to combine my academic interest with a personal faith perspective.